The crisis in Guatemala sparked by an assassinated attorney's final words -- captured on YouTube -- continues to expand online and in the streets.

Above, a protest poster distributed on Twitter in posts marked with the hashtag #escandalogt (short for "Guatemalan Scandal," for those who don't read Spanish).

The poster reads: I WILL NOT BE AFRAID TO GO OUT INTO THE STREETS, DEFEND MY LIBERTY, UPHOLD THE LAW, DEMAND JUSTICE, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID TO LIVE IN MY HOMELAND AND CHANGE ITS FUTURE.... GUATEMALA, I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU.

Inset above, a photo taken on Sunday: a worker guards the body of Rodrigo Rosenberg just after he was shot by gunmen in Guatemala City.

In the posthumously-released video, Rosenberg said he feared he would be assasinated, and that if he were, those responsible would be operating at the orders of Guatemalan president Álvaro Colom.

Prensa Libre reports that Facebook is now being used by Guatemalans calling for Colom's impeachment and trial. Organizers are spreading word on Twitter and various social networking sites to gather for a second day of protests, tomorrow, Wednesday May 13. Snip from article, with my rough translation from Spanish:

On Facebook one can read the declaration of a user who says, 'Today's demonstrations were only a small example, tomorrow with more strength and even more people we will achieve more still! Everyone, Protest! And, 'Tomorrow, there will be more of us,' says another user.

I'm hearing anecdotal reports on Twitter and elsewhere that account holders at Banrural, the Guatemalan bank at the heart of this scandal, are withdrawing all their cash from the institution and causing a growing liquidation panic that threatens to further destabilize the already teetering country.

@Nosehat: Well, the capacity to organise and document the protests makes violent suppression harder to organise and near-impossible to conceal.

With the rise in popularity of highly portable, networked hardware (esp. netbooks, smartphones and digital cameras), as well as the widespread adoption of technologies for rapidly sharing content, (e.g. Twitter), we’re entering a new era for protest.

To be honest, the reaction is as symptomatic of the problems of the country as the event is.

Not that I know much about Guatemala specifically, but in South America, as a rule, either people support the regime or they hate the regime and are prepared to believe anything bad about it. Regardless of who’s in power.

It’s why their democracies don’t work. No side trusts the other side, especially when it comes to democratic institutions and corruption. And so both sides convince themselves that ‘a little’ illegal behavior is okay, just to “counter-act” the real or imagined illegal actions of the opposition.

Bottom line here is that you’ll have significant outrage against the government no matter who’s in charge, or whether the government was actually culpable, as long as there’s something to be outraged about.

@yamara, I’m not a hero, the heroes in Guatemala are, and have always been, ordinary people who speak out against injustice and fight for human rights and the rule of law, against tremendous danger and direct threat of death. The most humble, the most vulnerable — their names are never known to us, but they are the heroes. I’ve met their families, I’ve sat in their homes after they died. They’re the heroes.

@AlexM, Guatemala is not South America, and you’re missing the point here.

@Voline, I remember the presidential campaign Molina waged — he’s a war criminal, and he promised to deal with the narcos “con la mano dura.” He, Montt, and others from the legacy of that genocide promise more of the same. I have no doubt that even darker forces than Colom will attempt a takeover if the situation continues to destabilize. The one thing you can generally count on in Guatemala is that bad politicians are often replaced by worse ones, and generally with assistance from, or a blind eye from, the United States.

@all who are observing the organizing online and saying this is insignificant, bear in mind the climate in which this is taking place. You show up at a demonstration in Guatemala, you may be killed. Either then, or later. The facebook groups are being used to organize meatspace actions.

@ahrimano, one more rude, trollish comment like that and you’re banned.

I don’t know if you’re trolling the commenters here, or if you’re trolling me, but 3 seconds worth of googling will yield background on my work covering social justice issues in Guatemala for many years. Apart from that professional body of work, personally speaking: I have been traveling to Guatemala with family since the 1980s, and have family and loved ones there. Guatemala es mi tierra.

Interesting. According to the Guatemala Times (an English language publication in Guatemala City) many of the people at the protests were from the Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations of Guatemala (CACIF) — which in a US context would be a sort of combination of the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Farm Bureau.

Since Colom took office there has been a crime wave in Guatemala that many of the people I spoke with there think is a destabilization campaign by the far right aimed at driving Colom from office.

This is not to say that Pres Colom isn’t guilty of complicity in the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg. He may be. Only that Guatemala is a sordid place where great crimes have been done with impunity for years. I think it is best to reserve judgement until more information comes to light.